Katin Wants You To Get Ready To Surf

Southern California brand Katin is always ready for Summer and is always ready to go down the beach and indulge in a little surfing action. The Surfside brand is as heritage as as a surfing label can be since they are responsible for making some of the first shorts equipped to stand up to harsh oceanic wear and tear associated with surfing. Their making surf wear helped to spread the accessibility of surfing and inspired what we know to be surfing culture: Katin is as Californian as you can get.

The brand has recently been doing some noticeably hip projects that are helping to expand what Katin is in 2013. Back in May they released a pretty sweet collaboration with Club Monaco that saw their shorts get a fancy pass from the fancy brand. They’ve also made a few custom goods for the shockingly hip Santa Monica Pier store. They’re constantly releasing new wears and have made some that dip into a few trends you may find familiar, all with a surf slant to them. We got our hands on a few things from them and we think they’ll be perfect for outfitting you this Summer, bros.

The goodies we got were a mixture of ready to wear items and ready to surf items, a logical mixture of warm weather goodies. The most important for any Summer person are shorts and Katin has a few amazing hybrid options. Their Top Heavy Trunks are two-toned masculine bottoms that are super simplified and surprisingly nicely cut. They look too long in person and on the model but, if you have long legs, these will be a perfect fit: no below the knee, 1990s uncool swim shorts for you!

A curious entry is their Ace short which is a hybrid fancy short and swim short. Made from a dark or light chambray with screenprinted hula girls and palm trees on it. The shorts feel like everyday beach critter shorts that are as fancy as they are casual. But are they just that? Nope: you can swim in them! They’re also super well cut, landing perfectly mid-thigh. They’re a great day-to-night, surf-to-scene short (that solved my problem of having nothing that matches this tank top).

The only non-swim shorts we got could totally be swim-y too: the Deliver shorts. These are lightweight, heavy linen shorts that come in two color ways. We grabbed the peach and sky blue which is absolutely radiates surfer cool. Tip: these shorts are good for cuffing as they may be a little too long without the cuff. You’ll also find that all of the shorts have draw strings if they are for swimming or not. That sounds awkward and overly casual and it certainly can be. If it annoys you on the non-swim shorts, just take it off or tuck them in. No biggie!

If you have shorts, you’re going to need a shirt and—once you see the hats—you’ll want some of those too. Because we run a site with the name “Los Angeles” in it, it was only appropriate that we got a t-shirt with California on it. Moreover, it doesn’t feel right to have something from Katin that doesn’t have their now iconic K-Man on it. Thus, this shirt in laid back beach bro ocean blue was the only thing that seemed appropriate to get. Although we can’t find it online, there is a really rad short sleeved oxford shirt with screenprinted pineapples on it that we absolutely love. It’s a bit more tropical than our climate but it definitely fits in the Katin, CA world.

Their hats are excellent compliments to all of the new stuff they have and acts as little punctuation points based in the fabrics and moods the brand is hanging out in. The khaki Trade Winds hat gives you a that beach print you crave while the Tropics hat is a cap made to match the hybrid Ace shorts. They look ready to wear, aging since they have some pretty fantastic leather details on them.

Although these wears are incredibly different, they all have a sunny ease that is decidedly the Southern California influence. They’re laid back and chill and make you want to hang out and watch—or catch—some waves in the sun. We’re going to feel like 2013’s answer to the Beach Boys this Summer in our cool Katin wears and we’re sure lots of other locals will be wearing them too. We don’t have very many “old school” clothing brands (for men) from Los Angeles, which makes Katin so special: they have been and will be making Southern California casual wear for as long as we are an oceanside city. Thank heavens the ocean isn’t going anywhere. Check out lots of Katin’s new looks here and check out where you can buy them in town here.